'I thought I was very much going to be winning': Here's why Trump says he dumped all of his stocks in June

President-elect Donald Trump. Spencer Platt/Getty Images After being chosen as Time's Person of the Year, President-elect Donald Trump went on the "Today" show to talk about the selection.

During his interview with "Today" host Matt Lauer, Trump was asked why he decided to sell out of all of his stockholdings in June. Trump said he did not own much stock — the most recent filings from Trump estimated his holdings at $40 million in December 2015 — and sold because of his outlook for the market.

"Well I've never been a very big person for the stock market frankly," Trump said. "But, over the years I bought stock and I bought them when they were low, and I saw what was going on with interest rates and it seemed like it was very easy to predict what was going to happen."

Trump also said another reason he sold was the conflicts of interest that could arise as president.

"I thought I was very much going to be winning," Trump said in a telephone interview with Lauer. "And I think I would have a tremendous, a real conflict of interest owning all of these different companies."

Lauer asked Trump why he did not disclose the fact that he sold until six months later, even as critics had raised questions about his business dealings and choice to not release his tax returns.

"I let everybody know — I let everybody know" Trump said. "I was never a big stockholder, but I bought a lot of different stocks and I had a lot of stock before then too, and what I did is I sold them. I don't think it's appropriate for me to be owning stocks when I'm making deals for this country that maybe will affect one company positively and one company negatively."

Trump did say in an interview with Fox Business in August that he had sold his stock because of "scary" market conditions, though he did not disclose the trade in official documents. Trump has still not provided documentation that he sold his stockholdings.

Since Trump sold, the S&P 500 has increased by over 10%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit all-time highs on Tuesday. Trump, in the interview, took some credit for this, saying stocks were at an "all-time record" after his election.